1995
Monday 4 December
Single release: 'Free As A Bird'/'I Saw Her Standing There'/'This
Boy'/'Christmas Time Is Here Again'. Parlophone/Apple/(cassette)/(CD).

The vinyl single and cassette single of Free As A Bird feature
another of those rare Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey compositions, Christmas
Time Is Here Again. This is a four minute edit of the original six and a
half minute version. This new version was previously unreleased and includes
spoken word seasonal greetings.

The Beatles reportedly had a hard time deciding which
versions of This Boy and I Saw Her Standing There should
appear on Anthology 1 - which led to the studio
out-takes appearing as B sides to Free As A Bird.

Yoko Ono admitted that it was a "very, very
big decision'' to release a homemade tape of John Lennon
singing on the first Beatles record in 26 years, but she felt
it would be wrong to stand in the way of a Beatles reunion.
Speaking 15 years after her partner Lennon was shot in New
York, Ono said the decade after his death had been incredibly
frightening and she had forgotten what pleasure was, "I don't regard
pleasure as part of my existence any more," Ono
told the Daily Mail newspaper.

George Martin was frequently questioned as to why he
didn't produce Free As A Bird:

George Martin: The Beatles are very good
record producers and they don't need me anymore. They wanted to keep this
project to themselves as much as possible. I knew about it, I knew it was
happening and there was no rancour about it. What they did with John's
tape is exceptionally clever and very good. Jeff Lynne has
done a brilliant job, and having heard it now, I wish I had produced it. I've
been working on Anthology all year, and if I had to
choose between working on the single or the album, I'd have chosen Anthology,
because it's the bigger one.

To Apple, EMI and many fans' disappointment, Free As A Bird, the
first new Beatles single in twenty five years, failed to enter
the BBC's 10th December chart at number 1. Paul McCartney was
believed to be particularly upset by this result - even more so when he heard
that the record keeping the Beatles from this pole position
was by Michael Jackson .

The critics greeted both Anthology 1 and Free
As A Bird with less than outright enthusiasm. A large number of the reviews
were negative, some even blatantly hostile, greeting the reunion with plenty of
sarcasm.

George Martin: It's not as great as Strawberry Fields,
but it's much better than some other number ones they had.

The favourable reviews at least recognized the limitations
history had imposed on the song:

Multiple time signatures, modulating keys, a melancholy
lyric, over three minutes play-time and a ukulele? Who do these guys think they
are - the Beatles? Well, yes. The Fab Four are back with a
song that they might have dismissed as uneven in their heyday, but is inventive
enough to remind you why they are still missed.Associated Press

But despite the largely unfavourable response from critics, Free As A
Bird actually sold more than 120,000 copies in its first week, and actually
reached number 1 on the music industry unpublished mid week chart. But by the
time the official listing was announced the following Sunday, it had been
overtaken. At the time, therefore, the Beatles remained joint
holders - with Elvis Presley - of the UK's most-number-1-hits
record, both acts having topped the charts 17 times.

On the 'Network Chart', however, compiled and used by independent radio and
ITV television programmes, the single did make number 1, but, in a situation
similar to the 1963 placing for Please Please Me, this fact is
unlikely to be recognised by the history books.